LADY BEARCATS WIN TOURNAEMNT

At one point in the second quarter Saturday evening the Lady Bearcats trailed De Queen by 15 points in the Booneville Invitational finals.

At one point in the fourth quarter, they lead the Lady Leopards by 15 before settling for a 54-42 win earning the tournament championship.

De Queen went on a 10-0 run in the first quarter and eventually opened a double digit lead by the end of the quarter.

That lead reached 24-9 by the 6:20 mark of the second quarter and the Lady Leopards still led 28-18 with 1:43 to play in the half.

But in the final 30 seconds of the half the Lady Bearcats got a basket by Leigh Swint, on an assist from Lexi Franklin (shown), and a basket by Franklin, on an assist from Heaven Sanchez and it was 28-22 at the half.

Swint scored six second quarter points and finished with 10.

De Queen maintained a lead until a Sanchez basket with 3:36 to play in the third quarter and, after a brief lead change, a 3 by Joleigh Tate moved the Lady Bearcats in front for good.

That gave Tate seven points in the quarter and she would finish the night with 17 points, 11 rebounds, and four assists.

It was 41-37 after three quarters but Sanchez, who finished with nine points, started the final quarter with a 3.

De Queen scored to cut it to five but then went almost five minutes without a point. By then the Lady Bearcats had run off 10 straight and led 54-39 after a basket by Hayley Roberts, who scored eight points.

The Lady Bearcats had 12 steals in the game, giving them 57 during the tournament. Layla Byrum had four steals.

The Lady Bearcats remain perfect on the season at 5-0 heading into the Battle on the Border Tournament in Arkoma, Okla. The Lady Bearcats will face the host school at 4:15 Tuesday.